Al-Minya's new governor, Maj. General Samīr Sallām, gave the thumbs up to embark on procedures to license the construction of a new archbishopric and annexes over an area of 4300 meters in the city of Maghāghah, capping a 14-month-old crisis.
Archpriest Ezra Fanjarī, the deputy head of the...

Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III met with Ahmad Diyā’ al-Dīn, al-Minya governor. A source from the papal seat stated that they discussed the crisis of the new Maghāghah bishopric and that the governor was keen that Copts are not subject to persecution, but he must implement the law.
For his part,...

Thousands of Copts from Maghāghah and al-Adawa in Minia, Upper Egypt, staged a sit-in at the bishopric grounds in Maghāghah last Monday to protest what they saw as unjust, humiliating treatment at the hands of Minia governor Ahmad Dīyā’ al-Dīn.
Heading the protest was Bishop Aghathoun, Bishop of...

The governor of Minya says that ignorant religious dialogue on behalf of certain clerics and priests is the reason behind the recent sectarian aggression in Egypt.
Ahmad Diyā’ al-Dīn also blames exaggerated media reports for the tension. As an example, the governor tells how he read a story printed...

Although he is a former official in the Ministry of the Interior, General Ahmad Diyā’ al-Dīn the governor of Minya has failed to put an end to the sectarian incidents taking place among Copts and Muslims through wisdom. Instead he uses violence and suppression to deal with such crises.